Cookbook Giveaway: Mixt Salads

We’re a tad overdue for a monthly book giveaway — where does the time go?

If anyone noticed, there was no LEK giveaway in May. But now for June, a lovely summery month, we have a luscious salad cookbook in the mix to share with readers.

First, a little housekeeping on the giveaway front.

Housekeeping: I tried three times to contact last month’s winner of Spoon Fed and then promptly forgot that I hadn’t heard back from said winner and the book has been languishing on my shelves ever since. My bad. So, Rae F, I’ll try one more time this week, and if I don’t hear from you by Sunday, June 12, I’ll choose another winner so the good book finds a good home. Sound fair?

Moving forward, folks have exactly one week in which to respond to a winner’s email announcement from yours truly, otherwise I’ll pick another lucky soul. Like everyone else, I’m uber-busy and don’t want to spend time chasing up people for something that shouldn’t take more than a minute or two via email to exchange snail mail details. Agreed? If so, read on.

Andrew Swallow, the founder and executive chef of a wildly popular salad joint called Mixt Greens (which sprouted in San Francisco, and has spread to L.A. and D.C.), recently came out with a cookbook filled with 60 salad recipes featuring gourmet greens, quirky ingredient pairings, and big, robust flavors.

These are salads, as Swallow himself likes to say, that both gals and guys love.

The book, Mixt Salads: A Chef’s Bold Creations (Ten Speed Press, $28), also features the gorgeous photography of Sara Remington, the subject of a pending post.

What can I say? I look at the Brussels Sprouts with Warm Butter Vinaigrette, Little Gems and Apricots with Blue Cheese, and Mache with Summer Lemon Cucumbers and Lychee and I want to pick them off the page and start munching away. Not to mention that blue cheese and figs on a wooden paddle. Yum.

Swallow has an eco-gourmet sensibility and his recipes follow the by-now familiar mantra of sustainability: local, organic, seasonal.

Not surprisingly then, his cookbook is organized seasonally and includes a handy primer in the beginning about how to build a great salad from the ground up. Swallow walks home cooks through the necessary salad-making essentials for any well-stocked pantry and the art and science of salad composition.

The CIA-trained chef, who did stints at the swanky Gramercy Tavern in New York and Gary Danko in San Francisco, favors elegant salads that can stand alone as a meal unto themselves.

Once given side-dish status, the humble salad has come a long way and now finds itself, during these farm-to-table times, featured in the center of many a great meal, as Mixt Salads illustrates.

If, like me, you’re a salad-obsessed individual, you’re gonna find a lot to love about the combos in this book which — heads up — includes omnivore offerings as well, like Coriander-Crusted Ahi Tuna with Mango and Avocado or Mixed Greens with Pork Tenderloin, Roasted Butternut Squash and Port Reduction.

Leave a comment below describing your favorite salad and its ingredients to be in the running for a copy of Mixt Salads. Entries must be received by Sunday, June 13, PT by 10 pm. Winner chosen at random.

I’ll choose a winner on Monday, June 14 and remember, you’ll have exactly one week to claim your prize.

Update: Wow! You all make me hungry with your fresh and fabulous salad creations. Thanks for sharing your ideas. The winner Of Mixt Salads, chosen at random, is Barbara, the very first reader to comment. Congrats! I’ll email you directly to get your snail mail details so I can send you the book. Thanks to all for playing and check back next month for another food book giveaway. If you’re curious, there’s also a new winner for Spoon Fed.

No salad ever comes out the same because it depends on what I have besides romaine, tomatoes, cukes and red onion. Sometimes I toss in all or some: raisins and sunflower seeds, jicama, radishes, red and yellow peppers, red beans or chick peas. The vinaigrette I use I make myself and that varies from plain to spicy.

Any salad at California Pizza Kitchen is awesome, however, for the salad that I make on my own, these are the ingredients: romaine, 1/2 an avocado, 1/2 cup black beans, 1/2 cup salsa, 3 sliced scallions, 1 cup shredded chicken, 1 tbsp lemon juice. That is the most delicious salad ever!